Product Description

The weddings of Jasper, South Carolina, have been run for years by four women respectfully dubbed "The Wedding Machine." This summer the daughters and sons of these four women are each being "married off" (to some unlikely characters!) and the gears of the machine begin to grind to a surprising halt.

Publisher's Description

"One of the most charming books I've read in a long, long time...made me laugh, cry, and cheer--as all good weddings do."

-Cassandra King, bestselling author of The Same Sweet Girls

Welcome to Jasper, South Carolina. A place where Southern hospitality thrives. Where social occasions are done right. And where, for generations, the four most upstanding ladies of this community ensure that the daughters of Jasper are married in the proper manner.

Friends from school days, "the gals" have long pooled their silver, china, and know-how to pull off beautiful events. They're a force of nature, a well-oiled machine. But the wedding machine's gears start to stick during the summer their own daughters line up to tie the knot. In the lowcountry heat and humidity, tempers flare, old secrets leak out . . . and both love and gardenias bloom in unlikely places.

Publisher's Weekly

In this engrossing novel with weddings as the centerpiece, Hart (Adelaide Piper; Grace at Low Tide) explores the relationships between women, daughters and husbands. Four high school girls bond in the small low-country town of Jasper, S.C. Now middle-aged members of All Saints Episcopal Church, they happily plan weddings for their loved ones that bring about unanticipated turns of events. It's a bumpy road: still grieving the loss of her true love, Elizabeth Sis Mims relies on her happy pills and contemplates dating the minister. Ray Montgomery's daughter wants to marry a preacher's son in a tacky contemporary strip mall church that offends Ray's desire to be exquisitely correct. Hilda Prescott mourns her divorce, and Kitty B. Blalock wrestles with her husband's lingering maladies. Sis muses, Well, that's the way it is with weddings and life in general... one near disaster after another and a whole lot of what some call ignorant bliss. Occasionally Hart overdescribes, and there are faint echoes of Steel Magnolias and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood throughout, but Hart's writing is lovely, her characters endearing, and humor leavens the darker moments. Midlife women will find plenty to relate to, and the wedding plot line is an invitation to myriad details on food, decorations and points of Southern etiquette. (Feb.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

A little confusing and difficult to get into at first (lots of flipping i from past to present in each of the four women's lives as their stories unfold), I grew increasingly engaged in this book by about the 4th or 5th chapter. Again, so interested to read of the cultural norms of the southern US that are highlighted in this story - I enjoyed it very much! (I found it to be an interesting pick for a "Women of Faith" book. The women do not have any sort of personal faith in God through at least the first half of the story, so we see them acting and reacting in all their "fallen human" glory. But, as we know, sometimes it takes a lot of sorrow in this fallen world to get our attention and remind us that God knew we would need a Savior!)

Well . . . I was glad it was a discounted book. I too was disappointed that this would be a Women of Faith book. It was a little too much like a "world" book. The story was a good one about the women and their friendship, I just wish it could have been a true Christian book, because it really wasn't.

The cast of characters in this book were very real. It was a pleasant journey to watch them grow and trust God through the pages of this book. The first few pages of this book were a bit different, and I was not sure what to think. I am so glad I kept reading. I loved that these characters were real people, warts and all. This is a book you should take the time to read and enjoy, and see what lessons you can learn from these southern ladies.

I can sum up this book up in one word "trash!" I have read well over 1000 Christian fiction books and there are only 5 that I have thrown in the trash. This is one of them. I had a gut instinct about the 3rd chapter that I should just quit reading it. But I try to give the author the benefit of the doubt. At page 127, I'd had enough. I am VERY disappointed that this endorsed by Women of Faith.